Duffy says his 'expenses do not merit criticism'

Mike Duffy says his 'expenses do not merit criticism'

OTTAWA — Mike Duffy says he’s pleased that his expenses will again be reviewed by the same Senate committee that gave him the green light last month.

The Conservative-dominated upper chamber has decided that its secretive internal economy committee will re-examine Duffy’s controversial housing and expense claims in light of new information gleaned from recent media reports.

“I welcome this development,” Duffy said in a release on Wednesday.

“Canadians deserve to know all the facts. I am confident that when they do they will conclude, as Deloitte has already concluded, that my actions regarding expenses do not merit criticism.”

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he is “frustrated and sorry and angry” about the Senate spending affair and didn’t know about the $90,000 cheque his former chief of staff wrote to Sen. Mike Duffy to cover improperly claimed housing expenses until learning about it from news media reports.

“I think we’ve been very clear I did not know,” Harper told reporters during a trip to Peru. “Had I been consulted, I would not have agreed with it.

“Obviously, I’m very sorry that this has occurred. I’m not only sorry, I’ve been through the range of emotions.

Duffy refused to co-operate with an external forensic audit by Deloitte, which concluded it could not determine if his expenses were justified due to the lack of information.

Liberal senators had wanted to send Duffy’s expense file straight to the RCMP, but their motion to do so was deemed out of order by the Senate Speaker late Tuesday night.

Instead, it will go back to the same Conservative-controlled committee that cleared Duffy of any wrongdoing last month, while at the same time sharply criticizing the actions of two other senators who were found to have made similar, inappropriate expense claims.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s chief of staff has since resigned after admitting he gave Duffy a personal cheque for more than $90,000 to reimburse his inappropriate claims.

Harper is in South and Latin America this week, leaving Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird to respond to questions in the House of Commons.

Baird said Tuesday that two “independent” investigations were being undertaken into Duffy’s expenses, without naming the investigators. It subsequently emerged that the parliamentary ethics commissioner and the Senate internal economy committee were involved.

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair said no Canadian will consider the Senate committee an “independent” review.

Does the minister not realize that that’s about as credible as Paul Martin asking Jean Chretien to investigate the sponsorship scandal?

“Does the minister not realize that that’s about as credible as Paul Martin asking Jean Chretien to investigate the sponsorship scandal?” Mulcair snapped in the Commons on Wednesday.

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau flatly accused the government of obstructing a Senate audit.

“We know now that Conservatives on the Senate committee on internal economy used their majority to doctor the final report on Sen. Duffy’s expenses,” Trudeau charged. “Can anybody on that side of the House tell us who gave the order to whitewash the report on Sen. Duffy?”

Baird said the committee report was clear “that these expenses should not have been expensed.”

“No one in the government is disputing that fact. As I understand it, the report did in the end reflect the fact that repayment had been made.”